JANAI PURNIMA OR GUNHI PUNHI

JANAI PURNIMA, RISHI TARPANI OR GUNHI PUNHI

On this day, Brahmins and Chettris have their annual ritual of changing their sacred thread called the Janai. Rishi Tarpani is the day to pay ablution to Rishis, as the hermits practicing self-denial are known. The full moon day thus sees hordes of Hindu priests with their clean-shaven heads taking dips in the holy water to purify their bodies before they get on with their business of offering sacred yellow threads to their clients..
KWATI 
The native Newars of the Kathmandu Valley call this festival Gunhi Punhi, Kwati, soup of nine different sprouted beans, is prepared in Newar households as the specials dish on the day's menu
One of the interesting names of this festival is Kwati Punhi, Kwati in Nepal bhasha means a kind of specially prepared soup. Several kinds of cereals, beans and peas rich in protein go into the occasion. The kwati soup, which they always serve hot, really tastes very good. Drinking plenty of kwati soup on this day is believed immediately to relieve one's stomach trouble if he has any.

Another aspect of this festival is the wearing of (the Rakshya Bandhan, golden color thread round one's wrist. this ritual band is believed to protect those who wear it from all kinds of ills and evils. one is supposed to wear it until the Laxmi Puja Which falls in Kartik? It is always the Brahmins who tie ups this holy protective band round one's wrist with the chanting of mantra. There is a very famous puranic episode about the significance of Raskhya Bandhan (safety band). Thus runs the story:
Once there broke out a big battle between Indra, the god king of heaven and Bali, the demon king of the underworld. Indra found himself too feeble to fight with Bali yet he tried his best but all in vain. Bali won the war. Indra was terribly upset. He did not know what to do. Therefore, he rushed to his guru Brishaspati for help. The guru tied up the Rakshya bandhan round the wrist of Indra with the chanting of sacred mantras and blessed him for his victory. To say the least, next time when he fought with Bali he won.
However, the Buddhists celebrate this festival in a bit different way. They regard this day as the day lord Buddha had victory over the Mara. the Mara symbolically means all those difficulties and drawbacks shakya muni Buddha Guatama had to face on his way to nirvana which he finally overcame and became the Buddha, the enlightned one. Lalit vistar, a very old Buddhist text speaks very highly about the significance of this day.

How to make Kwati

Kwati is normally a mix of 9 beans namely, black eye peas, cow peas, black lentils, chickpeas, adzuki, soybeans, mung dal, green peas and favas. This soup is made during the festival JanaiPurnimain Nepal .But we can use any beans and pluses you have to make this soup.

Some people like to sprout it before making it into a soup but I just soaked it overnight and made the soup without sprouting.

Ingredients

• 200 gm Kwati Mix
  1 medium onion sliced
  2medium tomatoes diced
  1 tablespoon of ginger garlic paste
  1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
  1 tablespoon of red chilli powder
  1 tablespoon of garam masala powder
  2 tablespoons of oil
  3 cups of vegetable /chicken stock
  A few bay leaves
  Salt to taste
  2 teaspoons of ghee
  1 teaspoon jwanu (Lovage)

Steps

• Wash and soak the Kwati mix overnight and drain the water.
• In a pressure cooker, heat oil and season with turmeric powder and bay leaf. Add the chopped onion and fry until it turns golden brown.
  Add ginger garlic paste, salt, red chilli powder, garam masala powder and fry for a minute or two.
• Add chopped tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes are soft. Make them into a paste.
• Add the soaked Kwati mix to the pressure cooker, mix well and add vegetable /chicken stock and cook until 5-7 whistles or until you can smell the beans.
• Let it cool in the pressure cooker before you open the lid. As there are different types of beans, test the big ones like broad beans to check if it is cooked properly. The beans must be tender on touch. If it is not cooked enough then press again.
• In a pan, heat the ghee.
• Once ghee is hot, add jwanu(lovage)and fry for 30 seconds until it is dark brown in colour.
• Pour this into the pressure cooker with kwati and mix well.
• You could add more water/vegetable /chicken stock depending upon how thick you want the soup.
• If you are not into vegetable soup, you could add cooked/boiled meat into the soup as well. Enjoy a tasty and healthy soup!!

Wetted beans of Kwati

                   

In the Kathmandu Valley, the biggest celebration takes place at the Kumbeswar Temple in Patan. A richly decorated lingam, the phallic symbol of Lord Shiva, is placed on a raised platform in the middle of the historic Kumbheswar Pond for devotees to worship. Another ceremony that takes place here is called Byanja Nakegu in which rice is offered to frogs. Since the water in the pond is believed to come from Gosainkunda, via an underground channel, a bath in Kumbhewar is considered as meritorious as one in Gosainkunda . However, the more devout Hindus trek to the sacred lake at an altitude of 4,298 meters and take a dip in the freezing of coins and coconuts too Shiva and Parvati.

As is well known, Nepal has an abundance of colourful festivals. It may also be clear by now that all such festivals revolve around the different phases of the moon. Which is natural, considering that the Bikram Sambat calendar used in Nepal is also a lunar calendar. In this vein, the full moon day of 10th August 2014 this year (and the same, or a day, near to it every year) is an important day of the calendar, having as it does, a couple of important events.

The most important is called Janai Purnima. Brahmins change their janai (sacred thread) once a year on this day while other Hindus have a sacred thread tied around their wrists. For the Brahmins, it’s an affirmation of their status, while in the case of the latter, the thread around their wrist is supposed to offer them protection against all ills. Most people keep the thread on for at least three months,  until Laxmi Puja, when it is taken off to be tied around a cow’s tail, a deed that assures a smooth journey to heaven since, after you die, you’ll be able to hang on to it as the cow pulls you across the Baitarni River on the way. Well, the tales are as tall as the mountains, you’ll be saying, but hold on, there’s more to come. The story behind Janai Purnima is taller still!

It goes like this: a demon called Bali—having won Lord Indra’s blessings—became so powerful that it scared the gods to death, who then begged Lord Vishnu to set things right. Now, wise Vishnu, what he does, is this: he goes to Bali in the form of a dwarf and begs for some land to call his own. Bali cannot refuse; he is oath-bound to give charity, but he does want to know about the dwarf’s expectations, and asks, “How much?” The reply is succinct: “As much as I can cover in three strides.” Naturally, Bali is pleased because the dwarf has pretty short legs. “Okay then, sure,” he says. However, to his amazement, the dwarf now begins to grow really big, so much so, that his one stride covers the earth, and the other, heaven. Too late, Bali realizes he has been tricked by Vishnu who now asks him about where next to put his third step. In frustration, Bali cries, “On my head, Lord!” “Okay, sure,” says Vishnu and promptly fulfills his wish. In this way, Bali is pushed deep into hell. During all this, Bali has also been bound with a sacred thread, which explains the priests’ mantra while tying the scared thread around your wrist during Janai Purnima, “Thus I tie the Raksha round your wrist, the same which bound the arm of the mighty Bali, King of the Danavas. May its protection be eternal.’ While the festival is celebrated all over, Gosainkunda Lake (4,315 m) in Rasuwa District, is the most happening place at this time, where hundreds of pilgrims and shamans congregate to take ritual dips in the icy waters. Water from this lake is believed to flow some 60 km southwest to the Kumbheshwar Temple tank in Patan, thereby making this also a lively venue for the occasion. 

This day is also when Raksha Bandhan is celebrated (particularly in the Terai) during which girls tie a thread bracelet around their brothers’ wrists, reminding them of their protective duties. Meanwhile, in the Muktinath Temple premises in Mustang, Gurungs and Thakalis observe the Yatung Mela on this day. Drinking and feasting is as much a part of the occasion as is chasing one another on mountain ponies. As for Kathmandu’s Newars, they have a festival called Gunhu Punhi during which a lot of kwati (a soup of nine different beans) is consumed. Frogs in nearby fields are, in the meantime, offered food by women in a ritual called Byanchaa Nakegu (‘feeding the frogs’). All in all, an important day, don’t you think?